President Bola Tinubu is chairing the 66th Ordinary Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the State House, Abuja.
It would be recalled that President Tinubu got a fresh mandate for the sub-regional leadership at the 65th Ordinary Session with his re-election as chairma
The meeting is projected to discuss advancing regional economic integration and ensuring institutional stability, among other issues.
This summit is holding as regional concerns mount following
the withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger from ECOWAS.
The countries have started under the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), under which they noe realign their relationship with the regional bloc.
This has caused serious concerns about their future ECOWAS.
The ongoing Summit will review its sanctions against the three AES nations following recent military coups, with the goal of balancing diplomatic efforts with its fundamental commitment to promoting democracy.
The meeting will forge a new approach to tackle fresh increase of terrorism in the Sahel and political instability in member states.
The meeting will also assess and facilitate the adoption of the ECO, ECOWAS’s proposed single currency, to raise trade standard among member states.
The leaders will also assess progress and timelines in countries under military rule, with emphasis on shorter transitions to civilian governance.
Tinubu had at the lat session appointed Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal to mediate between ECOWAS and the trio of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.
President Faye is expected to present the report of the effort to the ECOWAS leaders.
Other agenda likely to come up during the session include payment of community levy by member states and the implementation of the ECOWAS Trade libralisation Scheme which involves free movement of persons and goods.
Leaders from Benin Republic, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo are attending the meeting.
